Abit of Hong Kong

Just returned from a short visit to Hong Kong with one conclusion; their sales (or maybe what's left of it) is a big con job! Only shops on sale are those supporting the tourism industry with a big blue happy face sticker outside their shops, the likes of Giordano, Sasa, Clarks & Keith, Ah Chu Dresses, etc.

And the only thing I bought is a striped dress-like top with butterfly wings from Ah Chu Dresses lor. Weird exchange that was, as the shop's policy was "no trying unless you have purchased". What???? And if you don't like what you have bought, you can exchange with another item of the same value in the shop BUT you have limited chances of trying. I was probably too dumbstruck with the whole idea so I bought one and then only tried. As you can probably tell, in the end I wasn't too enthusiastic with my purchase -_-

The Royal Plaza

At least it was a nice hotel


With a side couch for reading with daylight

A big Asahi for pip who always orders whenever we're at Zen

Huge briefcase in Tsim Sha Tsui (no sale -_-)

Stolen flash from some other tourish at the peak

Harbour front prior to boarding the ferry from Kowloon to HK

A fattie me at Lan Kwai Fong

My only accomplishment was having eaten lots of original recipe dim sums, egg tarts, roast goose, wantan mee, lou por peng, chupar rice (twice!! yummylicious), dong ping lai char, peking duck, fish balls, the famous manggo dessert drink, and a Tetley every single night I was there :p

Renewed faith

Recent events have showed me how powerful the word faith is; to truly believe what is in your heart and to believe in yourself. For standing strong on the compromised grounds of fairness, it will bear the merits that you deserve. That is the power of love.

Some of us have moved on and I am very happy to learn of it.

Whereas some of us stayed back and my faith in him has been restored.

Neat trick!

I got a call on my mobile earlier with the display number +88686702212596. I immediately recalled hearing and reading numerous stories about how con artists from China or Hong Kong call you up informing you that you have won something and to cash in your prize, to please bank in xx amount into a bank account for transfer fees or whatever. So with slanted eyes, I picked up.

fadedbutterfly: hello?
woman: halo siao cheh, ni huay chiang hua yue ma?
fadedbutterfly: sorry, no *in a haughty brit-eessshh accent*
woman: oh okay

And hung up.

So I related this to gecko who quickly told me that I should have kept her on the line to waste her phone bill! He further went on to teach me how he treats telemarketers and wrong-numbers.

Step 1 - pick up
Step 2 - "hello?"
Step 3 - having confirmed they are one of the above
Step 4 - leave phone beside you on the table and continue doing what you were up to before being interrupted. Wait for "toot toot toot" tone when caller hangs up in frustration
Step 5 - repeat if the caller attempts a second time, or third, or fourth..

I think that's a darn neat trick!! I always get very agitated when wrong-numbers call me because as soon as I inform them that they got the wrong number; they usually insist that they got it right, or asks me what number they dialled, or hangs up so abruptly without a word or a hint of an apology. That's just plain rude!! -_-

I had a telemarketer call me up once inviting me to a re-launch of their old hotel. I immediately told her very politely that I was just not interested because I did not want to waste her time talking and explaining it to me when she could be reaching someone who is genuinely interested. That little b*tch went all rude and hung up on me. The nerve!!

So next time when you get a call from any of the above, just repeat Steps 1 to 5 above. I'm sure you'll be feeling so satisfied with this little neat trick that you can't wait for the next wrong caller!

And if you see a number similar to the above calling you - DO NOT GET CONNED!!

*the above is based on fadedbutterfly's personal opinion and is no way responsible for any consequences resulting from the above actions by readers*

Is change good?

A week from today, I will move on to a new role. After months of waiting, the transition has officially been communicated to me and will be effective on 15.8. I leave my job as a policewoman and go into showbusiness! I was given a proposition for this new role due to "compelling reasons" within the organization. I was skeptical as I wasn't sure if it could be a career progression for me but in view of the recent on-goings in the organization, I did not have alot of choices..

During the build-up to this transition in the last few months, I started looking forward to this role by psycho-ing myself that it will be better in the long run, that there is a steep learning curve to this, that I will undoubtly be valuable to the organization and others with these learnings in due time, yada yada yada. I suppose I am damn good in convincing myself. Maybe most of all, I truly needed the change; this feeling being further reinforced during days when I had to catch real dungkoffs red-handed but could never truly chuck them off to jail.

However, after numerous clickings through our canggih-fied ERP, I got the final details of the new role and am hugely disappointed with one little letter. Did my expectations go up a notch due to what we heard over the grapevine? Did the unusual amount of exposure caused me to demand inwardly for it? Was he just not firm enough? Was she just too stern?

But today, with the handshake firmly completed virtually, I will soon be leaving my badge and useless gun on the desk. Will the change be refreshing? I will do a status check in 6 months. -_-

The 2nd read

I am running out of books to read. Even digging through the new basket of books courtesy of a certain Mr. Leng in Australia now, I resorted back to the one that I have read before. The Da Vinci Code. I really enjoyed it the first time round and now, having been to the land of romance, I hope the imagination in my mind's eye will be able to indulge me for the second time.

I had a hectic but very enjoyable short trip down south last week. Met up with the ever accommodating Bogge and spent good moments just catching up. Having finally made this long overdue trip only heighten how much I miss her company and the third leg of the tripod Magges in Down Under :((. We had coffee and shopped and ate and drank. Most unforgettable was the massive and extremely appetizing pasta we had at La Cantina in Venezia, a little Italian restaurant with a view (which we did not see as it was pitch black) in Changi Village Hotel. We ordered a pama ham on melon and a fresh salad to start with. We then turned greedy and ordered Crab Meat with Linguine, Clams in Arrabbiata Linguine and Chicken & Sun-Dried Tomatoes with spaghetti, all accompanied by a bottle of 2006 Palliser Estate sauvignon blanc. I highly recommend this restaurant with its superb friendly and efficient service, great tasting food in very generous portions and at a reasonable price.

I am hungry now.